$46 Million for Leg Amputation

Aug. 9, 2016 – A jury awarded a San Bernardino man $46 million in damages for injuries he suffered in a roadside accident involving a driver who worked for Nissan of San Bernardino.

The plaintiff, 53-year-old Faustino Solorio, was catastrophically injured on September 10, 2013, when a Nissan parts delivery driver made a right turn and struck Solorio on the side of the road in Redlands. Solorio, who worked as a landscaper, was standing on the shoulder of the road, behind the tailgate of a truck when the defendant driver, Gunnar Ayala, struck him.

The impact forced Solorio through the front windshield of Ayala’s car causing serious leg injuries that resulted in the amputation of his left leg. The collision also caused lacerations to Solorio’s spleen, which had to be removed because of the injuries.

During trial, which lasted nearly two weeks, the plaintiff’s attorneys, Mark Robinson Jr. and Scot Wilson, with the Newport Beach based law firm, Robinson Calcagnie, Inc., argued the defendant driver was negligent while in the course and scope of his job at the dealership. Attorneys for the Nissan dealership insisted Ayala was an independent contractor and that the company was not liable for his actions. It took the jury less than two hours to reach a unanimous decision that Nissan was liable for a total of $46 million ($2 million for future medical expenses, $6 million for past pain, suffering, disfigurement and physical impairment, and $38 million for future pain, suffering, disfigurement, and physical impairment).

“We are very happy for our client, Faustino Solorio. His life has been extremely difficult since losing his leg, and it will continue to be difficult, but we’re very happy that the jury arrived at a just result,” said Mark Robinson Jr.